CCS Division II football final: St. Francis, Los Gatos meet again

St. Francis running back Landon Baty (4) breaks a tackle by Palo Alto' Malcolm Davis, right, to score a touchedown during the first half of the CCS division II semi-finals Football game in Mountain View. Daily News photo by Tony Avelar

For the second year in a row, the Central Coast Section's two most storied football programs meet for a section championship.

St. Francis beat Los Gatos 17-0 for the CCS Division II title last season, the program's 15th section title overall. Los Gatos has 13 CCS championships.

The teams come into their D-II title game Saturday night at Westmont with impressive credentials -- St. Francis is the only CCS team to beat Open finalist Serra this season and Los Gatos rolled past Division I finalist Milpitas to claim a share of its league title.

"The mindset is to respect St. Francis and what they're about," Los Gatos coach Mark Krail said. "But, to be honest, it's respect them greatly, but certainly not fear them."

St. Francis has similar admiration for Los Gatos, which has won nine of its past 10 games.

"They're a great team," St. Francis defensive back/running back Landon Baty said. "We have a lot of respect for them. Historically, we're two of the prominent programs around.

"Joey Wood is a great running back. We know they're going to have to run the ball on us, and we're going to have to stop the run."